


Playing the Part

by lydia_rogue



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 10:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6700591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lydia_rogue/pseuds/lydia_rogue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twenty years later, they return to where it all began.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Playing the Part

**Author's Note:**

> This is my contribution to the [Monty Oum Project](http://montyoumproject.tumblr.com/)'s fic exchange!
> 
> My prompt: "Where are the RWBY characters 20 years from now?"

**Age 16**  
The cold ice of winter had melted, giving way to soft blooms and tender green leaves. They were somewhere in the wilds of Mistral, far from anywhere they'd ever called home, when Ruby received three messages from her three teammates over the course of three nights:

Weiss: _Where are you?_

Blake: _I’m done running._

Yang: _…I love you too._

She messaged each of them back with the coordinates to the small town in Mistral she, Jaune, Ren and Nora would be in for some time.

Though the messages had trickled in, the rest of team RWBY managed to arrive within hours of one another about a week later.

Weiss had chopped her hair off, it was nearly as short as Nora's now, and she'd abandoned everything that was branded with the Schnee Dust Company logo.

Blake wasn't wearing her bow, cat ears twitching for all to see, and she had an unfamiliar blade strapped to her left hip and the previously missing gauntlet of Ember Celica around her right arm.

Yang stared at the blade, rubbing her right arm along the seam where flesh met prosthetic. "Is that...?" she asked Blake, the first words she had spoken to the other woman. 

She nodded. "He's dead," she said with a grim certainty that couldn't be questioned. Yang looked up to meet Blake's eyes for the first time, but the faunus turned her head. "He can't hurt you again."

Yang's lower lip trembled. "Wasn't worried about _me_ , I was worried about _you_. I didn't know where you'd gotten to - if you'd gone on some misguided crusade to stop him or if you'd _died_..."

"I'm sorry," Blake whispered, ears laying flat against her head. "I couldn't let him - " Her next breath hiccuped halfway and she met Yang's eyes with her own tear-filled ones. "I couldn't let him hurt you again."

"Come here," Yang said and drew her partner into a fierce hug, burying her face in Blake's neck to hide her own tears. "You're a stubborn ass, but I love you." Quieter, she added, "We're talking about this more when you're ready. You can't just leave me like that."

Ruby turned away from the private moment to Weiss, who forced a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I didn't want to go," she said, tilting her chin up.

"Missed you too, Weiss," Ruby said, hugging her partner close. Weiss gave in after a moment, rolling her eyes, and hugged Ruby back.

* * *

**Age 35**  
None of the former students had wanted to hold a memorial. They couldn't _forget_ , precisely, but they didn't want to _remember_ , either. Twenty years later, the moments were still burned into their minds. They had made their peace in their own way during the years that followed, but the scars that were left by the Vytal Festival had kept them in the shadows and reluctant to take on positions of power. Therefore it was people who weren't there - who didn't understand - that decided they should hold a memorial for the last Vytal Festival.

None of them wanted to go - but not all of them had a choice, so they all went out of a sense of solidarity and trickled out in groups of ones and twos.

Jaune and Ruby took one look at the memorials set up for Pyrrha and Penny and walked away without saying hello to anyone.

They wandered, feet taking them down a familiar road over weathered cobblestones.

At the end of the path was a statue - the huntsmen conquering a Beowolf. It was the only thing not at least partially overgrown. Jaune and Ruby had begun adding the names of the fallen to the rock - a monument to their fallen comrades. _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality._

The list began with "Pyrrha Nikos" and "Penny Polendina" and would eventually end with no one who would know to add "Jaune Arc" and "Ruby Rose".

Blake and Yang made their way to the ruins of the old Beacon next, hand in hand. Yang was among those who had had no choice with her position at the newly rebuilt Beacon, but even Glynda knew it was a bad idea to make Yang stick around, especially since people were debating whether or not someone with one arm could teach the students effectively. (Yang knew it was going to happen and had left her prosthetic at home just to see them squirm.)

They embraced, and quiet greetings were exchanged as Weiss approached, not on her scroll for the first time all day. (Being head of the Schnee Dust Company had its pitfalls.)

Nora and Ren followed - their tear-stained cheeks didn't go unnoticed, but no one said a word. Jaune just asked how they were settling into their new home in Mistral.

To one side, unnoticed by the main group, a man in green watched the proceedings while sipping his coffee.

A young woman stepped out of the shadows to stand next to him, amber eyes glowing with barely-restrained power. "I should be out there," she whispered.

"Your presence would only cause them pain, Emerald," Ozpin said.

Her frustrated gesture was aborted with an alarmed yelp when it was accompanied by a small burst of flame. Fifteen years later and she still struggled to control the power of the Fall Maiden. She'd never asked Ozpin about how the Maidens were supposed to inherit power, but it was clear that the power wasn't really meant for her. "I just want to apologize or... something."

It took him a long moment to respond. "Me too."

"You can't blame yourself. Salem - "

"Is still a threat. She's dormant, now, yes, but she's still out there. She'll be around as long as the world is, just like me." He tapped his cane thoughtfully against his shoe. 

The harsh caw of a corvid snapped him out of his reverie.

"Of course you're here," he muttered with a small smirk.

"Sir?" Emerald asked, tilting her head.

"Nothing." He took a sip from his coffee mug. 

Perched in the nearby trees, a murder and an unkindness stood watch.

**Author's Note:**

> There was... a lot I had to cut in interest of keeping this manageable.  
> Some of the highlights:
> 
>   * Weiss does learn to summon completely, however she doesn't summon her defeated foes, but instead the friends she's saved. Velvet was the first friend she was able to summon, much to her father's chagrin. (Despite having worked with and saved Pyrrha before, she never was able to get over the mental block and summon her.)
>   * Jaune doesn't have a semblance. He has an aura disability and cannot heal on his own like the others do. They work with him and he becomes Ruby's partner after everyone else retires.
>   * CFVY becomes the new group that protects the Maidens. 
>   * Blake keeps Wilt and Blush on the wall over her desk along with Adam's grimm mask. It's a promise to the humans that they'll never go back to that - and to the Faunus that they'll never _need_ to go back to that.
> 

> 
> Endless thanks to [StVincent](http://archiveofourown.org/users/StVincent/pseuds/StVincent) for helping me world build (even if I cut 99% of it) and being an amazing beta.
> 
> Find me on [Tumblr](http://marykay91.tumblr.com/) ([writing blog](http://lydiarogue.tumblr.com/)).


End file.
